Art in the Christian Tradition

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Title:

Shekhina 93-4

Notes:

When approaching this text, one is immediately struck by the similarity between the Divine “personification” of “Wisdom” in the book of Sirach and the Divine “personification” of the “Word” or “Logos” in the Gospel of John: "I came forth from the mouth of the Most High” (Sirach 24.3). Here, Divine Wisdom is also reminiscent and perhaps a figure which is a derivative of or correlative with the “Shekhina.” In his book entitled Shekhina, Leonard Nimoy offers a compelling and inspirational photographic study of the feminine Divine. Inspired by his upbringing in the Orthodox Jewish Tradition, he has devoted much of his creative and intellectual energy to exploring this figure. “A feminine word in Hebrew,” reports Nimoy, “Shekhina is the Talmudic term for the visible and audible manifestations of the Deity's presence on Earth.” He speculates that “Over time, Shekhina came to represent much more — a softer, empathetic feminine counterpart to God who could argue for humanity's sake, comfort the poor and sick, and stand as the mother of Israel.” -- Chance Dillon

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